Capital of Culture 2008

January 02, 2010

Topping Liverpool's year as European Capital Of Culture in 2008 was never going to be easy and with a recession to deal with too, it was always going to be a bit of a worrier. However, in hindsight it actually turned out quite well indeed. We never got Superlambananas but we did get Penguins which people took to their hearts 'nearly' as much. We also got a Beach Boy instead of a Beatle, and we got the Fonz instead of Cilla as a panto star which although not as big a name in panto circles is actually way cooler. Fact. Henry Winkler also caused a storm just wandering around town and he became the one to watch out for, dubbed Winkler Watch by The Echo's Catherine Jones. In fact he was spotted everywhere from a newsagents on Hardman Street (buying tin foil!) to Ma Edgertons next to The Empire and I haven't seen so many people getting excited about a visiting celebrity since Samuel L Jackson was here in 2001 to film 51st State. However, though I do know someone who bumped into Samuel L Jackson in a chemist in Litherland he was generally easy to spot as he spent most of his spare time in Magnet on Hardman Street with Robert Carlysle. So although some of the bigger names were missing and it was never going to be as big as last year, it was still pretty special and some things just got bigger and better. We got bigger ships and the Queen Mary 2's visit in October was no doubt the Mersey's highlight, we got a finished off waterfront and whilst we moaned a bit in 2008 saying nothing was finished, it at least gave us something to look forward to in 2009 like finding a present under the tree on the 2nd of January. And to mark this new waterfront we got a great new summer festival, On The Waterfront, which I hope returns bigger and better this summer though fingers crossed for better weather if it does come back in 2010! Liverpool Sound City also got bigger and better this year after making it's debut in 2008 and next year's getting bigger again with the recently announced news that MUSEXPO, a major international music business conference and convention has announced that it will be coming to town as part of Liverpool Sound City time for the next three years, instead of hosting their event in London. Anyway, enough of me trying to review the year, I'll post some links to other end of year reviews at the end, and onto some randonly chosen personal favourites from 2010.

Starting in the new year is always a worry and with the potential post capital of culture blues hovering around, it was nice to get the call that my first job was to photograph the Prime Minister and so on a very very very cold morning I not only got to photograph the PM (again) being guided around the new museum by Phil Redmond but I also got to check out the museum itself for the first time.

In March I got the chance to go out to SXSW in Austin, Texas as a guest of Liverpool Sound City and it turned into a bit of a road trip that started out with a night on my own, Saint Patricks night to be precise, in the Hoot Country Saloon in Houston and along the way took in bat watching missions, boat trips with nice Irish people, lots of BBQ, afternoon Southern Comfort sessions in the sun and of course silly amounts af amazing live music with my personal highlights being Black Lips, Wave Machines, Howard Eliott Payne, The Sonics and Camera Obscura! The full Lone Star State of mind story is here

Whilst 95% of my work is done in and around Liverpool, I did get to do a great job in Manchester in 2009 which was a massive 3 day event promoting Spanish Balearic culture in the centre of the city. In fact they renamed Albert Square to Albert Square for the weekend. Featuring dancing horses, cabaret, food, street carnivals and mad human firework displays, I spent two days over there and had a great time.

As mentioned already, Liverpool Sound City hit it's second year by getting bigger and way way better with more venues, more bands and on a personal level much better gigs. But itt was also hard work. Myself and Peter Guy, equal parts elf, trouble causer and journalistic genius, got to work on a daily newspaper that we had to deliver content to by 3am after a 9am start each day. For three days!! Needless to say as INCREDIBLE as Liverpool Sound City was, it was also knackering and we certainly enjoyed the closing party! And if you read any of my ramblings at the time you would know that my festival highlight was Black Lips (that's them snogging below) and the fact that although I spent most of my time running into gigs and running out once I'd got my shots, with Black Lips at Masque it was a case of being stuck in the pit for the whole gig and it is my second best gig of the year. My first was watching the same band at SXSW! My Liverpool Sound City blogs are here or head over to the official site for early bird tickets!

Another great '08 event that carried on into 2009 was the Viennese style balls at St.George's Hall and I got to photograph the Summer Ball. Incredible setting, The Phil and Greg Francis orchestras supplying the soundtrack and some of those tv dancers (who's names I don't remember) showing you how it's done. The photograph of the dancers is one of my favourite pics of the year.

I met the Nashville Liverpool Underground Medicine Show in Austin Texas in March or I should say that I was there the night that they formed. I'd met Mike Badger, the Liverpool singer who formed The La's, in Austin for the first time and we discussed doing some film work whilst we were out there for this film project I'm working on and then the next thing is we're in a backyard in South Austin hanging out with these new friends of Mike's called Emily and Matt and we did some filming with Mike on his own. The house had a giant rope light map of Texas on an outside wall which flashed on and off around the peace symbol. And then the beer and the Rum came out, along with the Mexican food, I filmed some more of the singing that carried on into the night and the next thing is there's talks of Mike bringing them over to the UK for a small tour. Needless to say it was a great night, with some great music, but to back up what could have been an easily forgotten drunken conversation, the band really did start that night and they came over in the summer to play a series of UK dates. I'm currently trying to put some of the footage I shot with them together and will post it online soon but in the meantime here's a quick link to some of the original footage I shot in Texas or go check the band out here. Nice one Mike, Emily and Matt!

Highlight of Liverpool's summer calendar for me was the On The Waterfront set of events which although hampered at times by typically awful weather, still saw thousands flock to the new look Pier Head to see bands, classical concerts, films, fireworks and loads of street theatre. These photos are from the light show which was my favourite of the 3 weekends.

'Sorry but I don't photographs weddings' is my usual answer when asked though I do like documenting all kinds of events. The saying no to weddings is mostly down to the whole thing about group photos and posed formal shots and even when you're told there'll be none of that sort of stuff, there usually is! Once when asked if I was bringing me camera, I obviously said yes and as soon as we walked out of the registray office, the groom's mother walks up to me and says 'who do you want first?'! So, no I don't do weddings though I have taken a lot of photographs at weddings. This year however saw a rare exception when I photographed a very very last minute, informal wedding by friends Jasper and Donalda. In fact I only found out a few hours before the wedding itself that it was happening and nobody was taking photographs and as it was such a great day, and I don't often post personal photographs, I just thought I'd post it!

As in house photographer at two of Liverpool's best venues, I get to see some amazing shows every year. One venue is O2 Academy (formerly Carling) and so I get to see all kinds of bands, big and small, and there's more of that in a bit. On the other hand I shoot lots of stuff for The Philharmonic including portraits of conductor Vasily Petrenko for brochures and record covers as well documenting the orchestra throughout the year. And aside from the classical side of things The Phil puts on an incredible calendar of everything from music to comedy and film and my personal highlights this year have been Brian Wilson, who I to got photograph backstage which was a bit special, and the OMD/RLPO collaboration which I'm posting here. This event has just been released on DVD and can be bought from The Phil's site.

The afternoon I spent at The Phil photographing David Gest's guests was without a doubt THE highlight of many a year not only because I got to photograph some of the greatest names in soul music like Billy Paul, Jimmy Ruffin and Percy Sledge (photo below) but at the end of the afternoon The Temptations sang the whole of The Way You Do The Things You Do to me accapella! To be fair they were actually singing it for the tour manager who was stood behind me but the camera says they're singing to me!

I think I went on enough about Dubai Sound City enough at the time and it was only a month or so ago but needless to say that as the weather here was turning pretty horrible, it was nice and a great honour to be taken off to the sun for 6 days to shoot some great live music and get to be part of what is looking like becoming an annual event! Aside from this there's talk of Sound City being part of an event out in Shanghai next year for the World EXPO so fingers crossed I might be getting out to China in 2010!

'Son I'm thirty, I only went with your mother 'cos she's dirty, and I don't have a decent bone in me', Shaun Ryder's classic lyrics from Kinky Afro, were the start of my last gig of 2009 in what has been a very musical year. It was 11 o'clock and Happy Mondays are seriously on form. The band are great, the new singer is great and even though there was no Bez and the new stuff wasn't too good, the hits kept coming and it was a great gig to end the year on! The only odd thing about it, and it was really odd, was that the band left the stage at 11.58 and didn't do an encore so everyone just sort had a brief cheer at midnight and then just sort of shuffled about waiting for something else to happen. But it didn't so we went home. So it was an odd new year but still a great gig and not being a fan of the whole New Year's Eve thing anyway, I was quite happy.

So it's goodbye to 2009 and roll on 2010 with possible musical road journeys out of the country again, an early new year launch on my new stock and print sales gallery (which is currently empty!), several book projects to carry on with, updates on both www.mcnulty.co.uk and www.markmcnulty.co.uk coming in the next few days and of course the ongoing film projects which will hopefully start going online soon.

And if you're not sick of reading about 2009 and you've actually made it all the way down to the bottom then check out some of these for further lists and writing about the year just passed.

December 08, 2009

I recently got a copy of The Phil's annual review, designed by Smiling Wolf, of 2008/2009 in the post with this first image spread across the front and back covers which I was made up with. And understandably enough the whole brochure was full of images I'd taken over the last year at the Phil itself as well as trips out including The Albert Hall, Summer Pops in Southport and the visit to the Houses Of Parliament not to mention the Queen and Macca's visits to Liverpool! The Phil over the last year have put on an incredible programme and things are still on the up with the recent announcement that the orchestra along with Vasily Petrenko are to play out in Shanghai later on in 2010 as part of Liverpool's presence at the World Expo! Fingers crossed I get to go with them!

January 02, 2009

With all of the added madness that the Capital of Culture events were going to bring to Liverpool in 2008, I always expected the year to be over quite quickly but the speed with which this year has actually passed has been frightening. One minute I was taking the first photographs, on January 1st, for the 0151 366 2008 project on Crosby Beach and then suddenly it's the end of the year and I'm back on Crosby beach! However in between I've photographed everybody from Macca to the Queen, finally had my Popcultured book published, worked with loads of new people, took as many 'photos a day' for the 366 project as I could and kept up with the usual commercial work. And as some sort of end of year roundup I've decided to try and pick out a 'small' selection of favourites from throughout the year though I reckon this ain't gonna be too easy.

This was taken specifically for 0151 366 2008 and it's a photo of Lyn 'I'd Like To teach The World To Sing' Paul backstage at The Empire preparing for her role in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers. The other highlight for the month would no doubt be the launch of the Capital of Culture event as I got to photograph Ringo as well as getting to see him perform a concert for American breakfast TV.

This was taken for Rare fashion and was shot on a freezing cold January afternoon in between snowstorms so all praise goes to the model on this one. Make up was by Debbie Lezemore.

As of January 1st, Carling Academy is now an O2 Academy and I'll be continuing as in house photographer in 2009 with the first big gig of the year being The Streets in a couple of weeks. This is from Justice's show back in March '08. Other favourites last year included Primal Scream, Nouvelle Vague and The Pale Fountains!

More fashion but a bit more commercial this time. I did a lot of work earlier on in the year for Ethel Austin and this was taken for a window campaign to feature in the run up to St.Valentine's Day.

I reckon photographing Ken Dodd was always going to be a personal highlight whatever the result but it ended up turning out to be one of my favourite portraits ever. This again was done specifically for the 366 project.

This is Bootworks Theatre's Un Boite Anadalou being performed at the launch of Metal on Edge Hill Station, the idea being that they perform plays to an audience of one. And I was the audience of one.

More fashion, only a bit warmer this time. Make up is again by Debbie Lezemore and the model is Domonique from Impact. The photographs were for a cover feature for Living Edge magazine.

I've done a lot of work this year for the Liverpool Phil and their events have ended up being some of my best memories of '08 so when the Queen visited the city in May, I got to be the official photographer for her visit to the hall.

2008 was the first year of Liverpool Sound City, a 3 day event of music business conferences and live music which took over loads of city centre venues. This was the big closing party at St.George's Hall and features local heroes The Wombats. And the good news is that the event is back in 2009 and it's going to be much bigger!

Highlight of the year, without a shadow of a doubt, was getting to meet Macca when I was asked to document him taking The Phil through their rehearsals of his work Ecco Cor Meum at Liverpool Cathedral. And I reckon second highlight was the Liverpool Sound concert itself a month later which I also got to photograph on the same day that I documented Stella McCartney's show at LIPA.

Stella McCartney's charity fashion show at LIPA, for which I got the job of being official photographer, was a great event which included a performance by Candie Payne as well as the show itself which was based around a game of musical chairs taken to the final moment where only one model was left standing.

I reckon I must have photographed The Ting Tings about 4 times over the last year or so but 2008 is without doubt their year. This was also taken at Carling Academy.

August bank holiday was a long one in '08 as I covered both Creamfields and the Mathew Street festival. I've done Creamfields off and on since it started and this was one of my favourites as I went on my own (ie without distraction) and just got stuck into to taking stacks of photographs over it's first two day event.

I've already mentioned that I've done a lot of work with the Liverpool Phil this year and the difficulty is choosing which has been my favourite. I did a new portrait campaign with Vasily Petrenko earlier on in the year, stacks of events in both cathedrals and the hall itself, a very nice summer's day spent out in Victoria Park in Southport photographing the Proms as well as doing portraits of many of the visiting musicians including Elvis Costello, Bryn Terfel and even Mavis Staples! I also got to go down to London a couple of times with the orchestra , this time being on their visit to the BBC Proms at The Albert Hall. I was well stuck on choosing one for my work with The Phil this year as other highlights included the John Lennon Songbook, Sir Simon Rattle's performances, The Fresh Festival back in January and the Rightful Owners Of The Song event in November.

Another one from my work with The Phil and this time's it's Elvis Costello backstage just before he went on to perform both new work and old classics with the full orchestra.

I reckon the highlight for a lot of people in 2008 was the appearance of Superlambanas all over the city and it was great just seeing people around with maps that they were using as checklists so make sure they'd seen them all. I'd like to see how many made it to the top of Moel Famau in North Wales to see the one at the summit!

And I reckon that the other highlight for the majority was always going to be the arrival of the 50ft spider that had people in tears when it left after three days of wandering around the city. I took a lot

of photographs of the spider but my favourite is this kid's reaction on the Friday night down at the Albert Dock.

From one Princese to another I'll never forget this day as I ended up getting up at like 5am or something to see the Grand Princess arrive in Liverpool on a very overcast morning before going back the same evening in the drizzling rain to watch her leave.

I thought after the summer that things might start to calm down slightly but it just seemed to get busier and busier with more and more events happening. There was Homotopia and The Biennial and then there was Power Plant which turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the year. This was the light and sound installations event that took place over 5 days in Calderstones park.

Some of the best events that happened in '08 were so great because they happened right in the centre of town, they were free and to many people they came as a complete surprise. Streets Ahead was my favourite of these as it took over most of the city centre and it featured everything from giant fighting dragons to human fountains with a whole lot of sideshows along the way. Other favourites were The Hope Street Festvial and the Imgaine Children's festival.

Another fashion shoot for Living Edge magazine and this was taken in a hotel in Manchester with the cast of a TV reality show that was also called Living On The Edge. The edge in their case being that of Alderley. Geek moment, I shot this on a 50mm at 1.4, something I've been doing a lot since I bought the lens just before Creamfields last August.

I reckon I could go on finding highlights for hours but it has to stop somewhere so I'll finish with Echo & The Bunnymen's performance of the whole of their Ocean Rain album at the Echo Arena as a nice way to round off the year.

So what's next? As well as the usual commissioned work, I've got a few book projects at different stages of development. Firstly we've now got to work on the edit for 0151 366 2008 which is the photo a day project that myself and 5 other photographers have been working on throughout 2008. Second up is a book I've contributed to a lot over the last year which is the first history of The Liverpool Phil. A lot of that content has at times been on this site but I've also done a series of portraits with members of the orchestra as well as a cover shot that I'm made up with. There's also talk of an exhibition to accompany the launch. More on that soon but it should be published in the next two months. There's also talk of two more book projects for publication in 2010 so things are looking busy enough and I don't reckon I'll be bored for a while.

So roll on 2009 and thanks to everybody who gave me the opportunity to photograph everything I did in 2008!

December 21, 2008

I recently did some production shots for the Liverpool Empire Theatre's production of Cinderella starring Cilla Black, Jennifer Ellison, and Les Dennis and these are now going out to the press. Understandably I've not been to a panto since I was a kid so it was a bit weird getting to see the whole production without an audience but the show itself is amazing with a lorra lorra laffs and a Liverpool soundtrack!

December 07, 2008

I photographed Elena Dee, the star of Tosca, the other week at Liverpool Cathedral but went back on Thursday evening to photograph rehearsals before the first of three shows which were being put on at The Empire by Ellen Kent. The last minute checks seemed to be very last minute which I like all the more as it was good seeing people in puffa coats and ear muffs singing opera whilst a man up a ladder made a few last minute adjustments and a couple of people shouted orders across the stage. Nothing like a bit of storm before the calm.

December 05, 2008

I wanted to put this up after the Evol 5th birthday pics as this event happened the night afterwards and couldn't have been more different. The Rightful owners gig at The Phil was the brainchild of Jonathan Raisin whereby 19 of Liverpool's local hero pub singers were put onstage to sing some of their usual favourites only with the backing of a full orchestra (the Liverpool Phil). The audience was a perfect mix of both fans of the orchestra and those of the singers themselves and whilst the singers dressed the part in posh frocks and tuxedos, they still managed to bring the pub atmosphere into the grand surroundings of The Philharmonic Hall with a few jokes, a bit of patter and a dedication or two proving that you can take the singer out of the pub but you can't take the pub out of the singer. Not that you'd want to of course. Genius!

November 02, 2008

It's that time of the year (well, two years) when anything that doesn't make sense can be easily put down to being something to do with the Biennial. In this case I think that it is down to the Biennial and also suits this years brief 100% as the events subheading is Made Up.

September 24, 2008

Now that the opening weekend is over, it's down to the long walk around town to see what The Biennial has to offer and this site at the top of Renshaw Street is my current favourite. I've also checked out Yoko's Skyladders for Liverpool in the grounds of the bombed out church (it'll be nice when a few more ladders are donated but she's not having ours) and the red amphitheater across the red. My dad was over from Ireland on Monday so we also went on the 'hunt'. Went to see the three floors of the former decorating department of Rapid (if your time is limited I wouldn't put it first on the list!), went to the info centre which is the old ABC Forum Cinema on Lime Street (a brilliant conversion and great to see the info place so near to the station) and then on to St.John's Centre where we failed miserably trying to find whatever was supposed to in the food court. Not done any of the major indoor places yet but then the wander around town stuff is well more appealing whilst the sun is shining! And if you are on the wander then Coffee Uniion on Bold Street is a good stop off place with some very nice illustrations by Louise Morgan!

September 11, 2008

As impressive as a 50 foot spider can be, on my first sighting at the Albert Dock on Friday night, I mostly photographed the crowd who had turned out in their thousands int he rain to see La Princesse.

September 07, 2008

If people remember one thing from 2008 I reckon it's going to be La Machine and La Princesse which has had Liverpool talking about little else over the last 4 days as the creature has made it's way on a magical journey around the city centre. The final day of this unbelievable event is today as the 50 foot spider finally makes her escape from both the city and the scientists! I watched the spider on Friday night at the Albert Dock as she took a bath in the Salthouse Dock (who says spiders don't like water?) before she headed off in torrential rain to sleep next to the Cunard Building. The event was amazing with around 20,000 turning up in the worst weather ever to witness it and, whilst is was as incredible sight to see, I spent most of the night photographing the audience as opposed to the spider itself. And then on Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to get a position on the roof of the Town Hall to see the most amazing crowd you could ever imagine in a scene that looked like the Hard Days Night premier when The Beatles appeared on the balcony. Only with a 50 foot spider wandering around the crowd. And if yesterday is anything to go by then the finale tonight will be even better and God knows how many are going to turn up to watch her leave along Lime Street and down William Brown Street before attempting an escape via The Queensway Tunnel!

September 05, 2008

Last night's performance at the Liverpool Phil was one of the most talked about highlights of Capital of Culture and judging by the audience's reaction and standing ovation at the end, it seemed to live up to everybody's expectations! Sir Simon will be back in the city early October when he will conduct the Liverpool Phil.

August 21, 2008

The Children's Festival was on a couple of weeks ago around St.George's Hall and was another great Capital of Culture street festival. I'm at Mathew Street Festival and Creamfields this weekend so I'm sure there'll be a photo or two to upload!

June 21, 2008

I've just put up a new gallery on my website, in the projects section, dedicated to the work I've been doing for 0151 366 2008. All can be viewed over at the 366 site but I've been meaning to do a selection of mine on my own site for ages. This is a recent on from Go Superlambanana and features Rope Walker on the top of BDP on St.Peter's Square off Seel Street.

June 19, 2008

The first ever Design Show Liverpool kicked off last night down at Novas on Greenland Street in L1 and it's open until Sunday and not to be missed by anybody with even the slightest interest in design and fashion or for those who just fancy starting their Christmas shopping a bit early. The event included a last minute suitably controversial speech by Red Or Dead star Wayne Hemingway, some awards and a fashion show but more importantly there's over 170 stands of new products and garments from young designers hailing from all over the country as well as some local names such as Nook & Willow, Caroline Oates and Kirsty Doyle. And as well as the event itself, it's also a chance to check out Novas' Contemporary Urban Centre, a new hub for what I'm sure will be many creative events and festivals over the coming years with it's own gallery, performance and cinema spaces.

The photographs here include the speeches by Wayne Hemingway and the Culture Company's Fiona Gasper, the fashion show, Claire & Nina from Nook & Willow (they make nice handbags!) and of course the Design Show itself!